User blog:Goddess of Despair/The Alamo Defenders vs Grande Armée
The Alamo Defenders; Texans who held their ground and fought to the last man in the most famous last stand in history take on the Grande Armée, Napoleon Bonapart's shock troops. Who is deadliest? To find out, our wikians are testing history's most lethal weapons. No rules, no safety, no mercy. History will be re-written in this duel to the death to decide who is the deadliest warrior! Grande Armée History= *The Grande Armée (French for ″Great Army″ or ″Grand Army″) first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain. It never achieved its primary goal, as Napoleon had to re-deploy it east in order to eliminate the threat of Austria and Russia, which were part of the Third Coalition assembled against France. *Thereafter, the name was used for the principal French army deployed in the Campaigns of 1805 and 1807, where it got its prestige, 1809,1812, and 1813–14. In practice, however, the term "Grande Armée" is used in English to refer to all of the multinational forces gathered by Napoleon I in his campaigns of the early 19th century (see Napoleonic Wars). *The first Grande Armée consisted of six corps under the command of Napoleon's marshals and senior generals. When Napoleon discovered that Russian and Austrian armies were preparing to invade France in late 1805, the Grande Armée was quickly ordered across the Rhine into Southern Germany, leading to Napoleon's victories at Ulm, Austerlitz and Jena. *The army grew in size as Napoleon's might spread across Europe. It reached its maximum size of 600,000 men at the start of the invasion of Russia in 1812. All contingents were commanded by French generals, except for a Polish and an Austrian corps. The huge multinational army marched slowly eastwards, with the Russians falling back before it. After the capture of Smolensk and victory in the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon and a part of the Grande Armée reached Moscow on 14 September 1812; however, the army was already drastically reduced due to the numbers killed and wounded in battles with the Russians, disease (principally typhus), desertion and long communication lines. The army spent a month in Moscow, but was ultimately forced to march back westwards. Assailed by cold, starvation and disease, and constantly harassed by Cossacks and Russian irregulars, the retreat utterly destroyed the Grande Armée as a fighting force. Only 120,000 men survived to leave Russia (excluding early deserters). Of these 50,000 were Austrians, Prussians and other Germans, 20,000 Poles and 35,000 Frenchmen. As many as 380,000 died in the campaign. *Napoleon led a new army to the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813, in the defence of France in 1814 and in the Waterloo campaign in 1815, but the Napoleonic French army would never regain the heights of the Grande Armée in June 1812. Taken from here. |-| Short range= Saber *44" length. *Weights 2.5 pounds. *Steel blade. |-| Medium range= 1733 Flintlock Pistol *.50 caliber. *Light weight. |-| Long range= Charleville 1777 Musket *Weights 10 pounds. *.66 caliber. *Range between 50-75 yards. Alamo Defenders History= The Alamo Defenders were soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Alamo in the Texas Revolution. The Alamo Defender's were lead by William Travis and James Bowie. The attacking forces were commanded by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Alamo defenders fought to the last man and were defeated in the battle however they inspired Texas revolutionaries to keep fighting for independence, this lead to the Battle of San Jactiinto were Texian soldiers repeatedly cried "Remember the Alamo." Taken from their warrior page. |-| Short range= *Weights 1.5 pounds. *9 inch blade. *Throwable. |-| Medium range= Harper's Ferry Model 1805 *.58 caliber. *10 inch barrel. |-| Long range= Baker rifle *Weights 9 pounds. *.165 inch cartridge. *Range of 100 yards. Battle/voting information The battle will be a 5 on 5 and will take place at The Alamo. Voting is in the form of points, 2 point for descriptive edges or 2 paragraphs. 1 point for 2 paragraphs or edges that are not that descriptive, and 0 for one word or sentence. Voting ends May 23 2013. Battle Grande Armée Alamo Defenders The Alamo Defenders are moving about in their fort, having survived the massive assault from Santa Anna. Two men are on the walls keeping watch and the other 3 are moving their deceased colleagues. The Grande Armée troops march to the front of the fort and assemble in a row. The Defenders on the wall aim their rifles but are too slow and get blasted by a storm of bullets. The Grande Armée troops advance towards the base in formation as the remaining Alamo Defenders take up arms to defend themselves. The stand spread apart and each fire their rifles, hitting two of the French warriors. Each side stops to reload except for David Crocket who instead draws his Harper’s Ferry pistol and blasts one of the reloading French. Another Grande Armée soldier draws his own flintlock pistol and fires a round into Crocket’s shoulder. David fell to the ground gripping his wound as the other Grande Armée soldier fired a round at the Defender to his right, hitting his throat. The other Alamo Defender, James Bowie, fired a round from his Baker rifle, hitting the man who shot Crocket in the chest. The final Grande Armée soldier reloaded his pistol and aimed at Bowie. He fired a round, hitting the side of his Baker rifle. Bowie dropped the rifle as the Grande Armée warrior dropped his pistol. Both warriors drew their melee weapons as Crockett feels manages to get to his feet and begins to load his Baker rifle. The French warrior slashed high with his saber but James parried and counter slashed, hitting him in the side of his cheek. He Grande Armée soldier responded by hitting James in the gut, making him stumble and drop his knife. The French warrior raises his sword for another slash when suddenly a round slams into his side. He drops to the ground as James retrieved his knife and thrusted it into his throat. Crockett stood using the Baker rifle like a cane and looked around him. A fort of 189 men and now only 2 remained. Expert's opinion This battle was close, but the Alamo Defenders emerged victorious. Their bowie knife was inferior to the saber, but thier more advanced and more powerful flintlock weapons alonside being on their home turf won them the day. Simulated Results Alamo Defenders-556 Grande Armée-444 Short range Bowie knife-90 Saber-152 Medium range-Harper Ferry-166 Flintlock Pistol-81 Long range- Baker Rifle-300 Charleville-211 Category:Blog posts Category:Battles